Dead and Gone (A Daryl Dixon Romance)
by MrzDixxon
Summary: Grace Lynn Marshel has just finished off her last can of food. She's scared to leave her home but one day she wakes up greeted by two men in her home that aren't good guys. Then Daryl Dixon walks through the door and she actually has hope that she might be able to survive the world.
1. Chapter 1: Claimed

I'm dying...my stomach growls and grumbles. There's no tellin' how long it's been since this apocalypse started. Bean cans and soup cans are all over, there's no more food for me, anyway. Maybe, once I'm dead everything will be okay; my mouth won't be dry anymore and I'll always be full, once I'm gone.

I hear those things beating on the cabin, hissing and groaning. They know I'm here, they can smell my fear. I wrap my hands around my body, shivering, remembering... Taking the wooden cross off the wall and sticking it through my mother's rotted and decayed skull and then grabbing my bible and bashing it into my father's head. I still ask God, why you didn't just take me. Now, I have to stare at my parent's bodies on the floor and shiver in a dark, cold corner while everything around me is dead and gone. Slowly, I drift into a deep sleep.

I open my eyes hours later from a long sleep. Sweat is soaking my shirt and it drips down my face. Batting my eyes open a man stands a few feet away from me. "I'll be damn! She's alive Grayson, look it here!" A man says in a thick southern accent.

A tall man steps out of the bathroom and he strolls over to the guy who was talking about me. "Son of a bitch, she sure is livin'," He gives a sly smile, "Take her to the back, it's survival of the fittist and I ain't had me a purty darlin' in quite some time."

"Awww you can't do that Grayson, you know the rules. The boss'll get cha if he finds out!"

"Who gives a damn what the boss thinks Ryland! It's just us and that son of bitch Daryl!" Grayson starts walking toward me and I scoot away as far as I can go into the corner. Then I hear another set of feet walk through the front door.

"Claimed..." is all I hear come out of the guy's mouth. He doesn't sound too friendly either. Grayson turns around and stares at the guy.

"Nice try, she's already claimed!" I peek around Grayson and stare at the man holding the crossbow up. His hair is long, reddish-brown and scruffy; he has fierce blue-green eyes and stubble on his face. He's older than me but not as old as Grayson and Ryland, with their grey hair and long beards.  
"I didn't hear no such word come out of your mouth, Grayson." He says in a low deep voice. I gulp and grab the thing closest to me, a baked bean can.

"She got somethin' Grayson!" screeched Ryland.

"What is she gon' do with a baked bean can, now get her you dumb sack of rocks," he turns around to Daryl and holds up his revolver. "Get your ass back out the door, I said she's mine!" Daryl is still holding the bow up, standing as still as a statue.

"And I said claimed..." he cocks his head a little. "Ain't that the damn rule, you gotta say claimed!?"

Ryland makes his way to my corner and I start throwing bean cans at him but it doesn't stop him. He grabs my wrist and tears start to form in my eyes. Grayson turns around with a sigh and shoves the gun in the front of his pants.

"Let her be Ryland, Daryl can have her first, while we get warmed up."

Ryland does as he is told while Daryl drops the crossbow to his side and walks over to my corner. Tears are now streaming down my face, I am terrified. He looks down upon me and then squats. There's something in his eyes, I can't read them very well. "Follow me." He says it slow, and for some reason I trust him. I know he won't hurt me because he's after something important. So, I slowly get up and follow him down the hall to my old room. He slams the door and stares me down. Setting the crossbow on the floor in front of him, he then walks over to a chest and pushes it over making it sound as if he's really doing something to me. "How many walkers' have you killed?" He asks through gritted teeth. I hold up two fingers, shakily. "How many people have you killed?" I shake my head at the question and hold up a zero. Tearing a shelf from the wall he asks me the last and final question, "Why?" His eyes are now on mine.

I suck in air and take a deep breath, "Because my momma and daddy turned into them things."

"Them, things are called walkers," He says back as he comes back to retrieve the crossbow. "Are you just gonna stand there or open that damn window?" He motions toward the window that my bed is under.

"You mean like leave...?" I hug my body tight, he just nods and I smile. All I grab is my bloody bible and a cross necklace, then I crawl across my bed and open the window.

Quickly, he crawls in front of me, "Me first, follow my lead, girl." He climbs out of the window; once he gets out he helps me out. Once I'm on the ground he looks at me putting his finger to his lips and peeks around the corner of the house. "Clear, quietly, follow me." And so I listen to his orders, as we sneak through the leaves and go into the woods as deep as possible before they notice. Both of us hide behind a large tree and he peeks around the corner of it, then, suddenly we start moving again.

Finally, we're far away from my house walking down a dust road. "Grace...my name is Grace Lynn," I say.

"Daryl." He slings the bow across his shoulder. I hold my hand out and he just looks at it, so I finally give up.

"Why did you ask me those questions, Daryl?"

"What's it matter for? Just keep walkin'." He says without making any eye contact.

"Why didn't you rape me?" That was my final question for awhile.

He stops and stands there. "Didn't know I was supposed too," He looks at me and I can see the anger in his eyes. "Why don't you quit askin' questions sunshine and walk!?" He starts walking again and I follow far behind him hugging my bible to my chest. I try to blink the tears from my eyes, while not looking, a walker appears on the road in front of me and starts toward me. I back away as it gets closer and closer to me.

"Daryl!" Falling back on to the ground, I scream his name frantically. And an arrow flies into the head of the walker; it falls defeated on the dirt road. Dust flies up and blood runs from its head leaving a puddle. Daryl makes his way toward the corpse and pulls his arrow out of its head. "Well you gonna get up or just lay there?" He asks. I get up shaking and we start walking again.


	2. Chapter 2: I Think It's Time To Go Now

We take a break and sit on the side of the road; I fiddle with my cross I put around my neck. "You saved me...why?" I ask.

"I didn't wanna see nobody else get hurt..."

I look at him and then look back at the ground. "You have a group?"

"We got split and I was with one of em' but somebody took her, then I got caught in them bastards mess." He turns his head and looks at me. I could see the sorrow in his eyes; this girl really must have had an impact on him.

"What was her name?" I ask shyly.

"Beth..." He puts his head down, sadly after saying her name.

"What a pretty name, was she your girlfriend or something?"

"No...Just my friend," He gets up picking up the crossbow and then looks at me. "We need to move and find some place safe before nightfall."

I get up and grab my bible then we start walking again. The sun has disappeared overhead, Daryl's killed a few walkers along the way not many though. After a few more minutes of walking we finally come to a car in the woods. Daryl tries to get the driver's side door open but it's locked so I go around the passenger side and try it. But still the door won't budge. Daryl hits the car and beats on it.

"Son of a bitch!" He says loudly.

I go around the car to where he is. "I don't think that's going to help." I say almost in a whisper. He turns his head toward me and just stares, not saying a word. I step on something in the grass then the car starts going off all the lights are flashing and the horn is honking.

"Give me the keys, girl!" Daryl yells. I bend down to get them but I'm so nervous I drop them again. I pick them up and shove them into his rough hand. He finally gets the car to stop panicking and then I hear a walker behind me.

Daryl comes up to my right and he slides a gun in my hand. "No, I'm not firing this..." I whisper.

"Then die, I could care less!" He turns around and starts walking back toward the Chevy Tahoe. Anger boils within me, I put the gun in the back of my belt and watch as the walker gets closer and closer to me. Once it's a few feet I pick up a heavy rock.

The walker reaches out at me and tries to grab me but I kick it in the shin, its leg breaks in half. It falls to the ground and I straddle it bashing it in the head with the rock, blood spatters all over me and then I slowly lift my head up and my eyes meet Daryl's. The anger still boils and slowly I slide the gun out of the back of my belt and draw it on him. He doesn't do anything, all he does is stare, and for some reason that stare goes right through me. It sends chills up my spine...that stare.

"Well...I'm waitin' why ain't you shootin'?" He asks.

"Drop the damn crossbow!" He follows my orders and sets the crossbow against the car. Sweat runs down my face but I can't seem to concentrate because of that look...

My hands drop and so does my head. "Thank you, Daryl," After saying it; I look back up at him with tears streaming down my face. "For saving my life...but I should get going." I walk over to him and hold out the gun, he looks down at it and then takes it.

"No problem Grace, I think you might of dropped this." He holds out my bible.

"I don't need it anymore...I mean how could anyone look to a bible for comfort in this mess?" I feel a small smile on my face. Then I grab the cross around my neck and pull it off. It falls to the ground, and then I turn and start walking away from him.


	3. Chapter 3: They Found Us

Daryl Third-Person-Limited

Daryl leans against the car for a minute and looks down at the silver chain in the grass. He picks it up and sticks it in his back pocket and goes after her. "Grace?" He calls holding up the crossbow looking in every direction.

"Grace!?" He calls again a little louder now. She steps out of the bushes and looks at him.

"What?" She ask.

"There's a place called Terminus, we just gotta follow the tracks...we should go, together,"

Grace P.O.V

He stares at me with that look again and my whole body feels like it's going to give out. "If my group ain't dead that's the place they'd be." He says.

"I'll help you but only if you teach me to defend myself..."

"I didn't say nothin' about help I said come."

"Still," I say.

"Fine, come on we need to get some rest and find somethin' to eat in the morning." My heart sinks to my stomach and I blush. He turns around and I follow him back to the car.

When we got back to the car he opens the door motioning for me to get in, so I do. He then gets in himself and puts the crossbow in the front seat and then lays his head back on the head rest. I can't quit looking at him out of the corner of my eye. His skin is coated with dirt but it still looks flawless. His arm muscles bulge out as he squeezes his knees and lets out a deep breath. Chills go up my spine and my heart is pounding faster than it ever has, I've never felt this before, I mean maybe a little but not as bad as this. Then I just lay back and relax. I'm tossing and turning, finally my eyes just fly open. I quickly look over to see Daryl staring right at me.

"What!?" I ask.

"Nothin' I was just tryin' to figure out why you were tossin' and turnin' all over the damn place."

"It's none of your business!"

His face is blank; he doesn't say anything else and just lays back. "Just go to sleep." He mumbles. So I try again. I open my eyes and look next to me but Daryl is gone and so is his crossbow. I open the car door and look up at the sky, judging by the sun it's late in the afternoon. My stomach is killing me now and all I can manage to do is cry.

I scream in fear, "Daryl!" My lip quivers and I don't stop screaming his name. "Daryl!? Please come back!" I'm scared and all alone, I can't even defend myself.

I get out of the car and shut the door, starting to walk away from it. Someone, then steps out of the woods and chuckles, my eyes turn toward the sound.

"Seems like your buddy Daryl might a tricked us pumpkin, get her Ryland!" Grayson shouts.

Ryland grabs a hold of me and I scream in terror.

"Shut the bitch up Ryland! You tryin' to get us killed!"

"No, no Grayson." Ryland sort of stutters, cupping his hand over my mouth but I bite down hard on his finger. He let's go and I start running. Then I run into something, a guy as a matter of fact. I look up and see that it's Daryl, all beat up with duct tape on his mouth and his hands bound. The man holds a knife to Daryl's neck.

"They get what they want or this one dies." The man says. I start to panic now.

Grayson comes up behind me and presses his hand against my mouth hard, and grabbing my breast as well. My eyes are still on Daryl and his are on mine.

"Ryland! Hold the bitch down, now!" Grayson yells pushing me on the ground. Ryland pushes my head down as Grayson starts unbuttoning and unzipping his pants, then he straddles me. He then unbuttons and unzips my jeans. I let out a scream and Daryl tries to turn his head away but the man makes him watch.

"Knife!" Grayson says. Ryland hands him one and he yanks it out of his hand. Grayson then cuts my underwear and shirt open. Tears are streaming down my face, I'm so afraid.

"Please...please don't do this." I beg.

"Aww hear that boys she's beggin' to keep her innocence!" Grayson laughs as he cuts my bra and exposes me. His head turns to Daryl, "Don't you love it when they're nice and sweet?" That's when I start struggling but he slaps me and I give up. He pushes his hand over my mouth and I can't do anything except let him rape me.

After a few minutes Grayson stops and then Joe pushes Daryl down on his knees in front of me. He rips the tape off of his mouth and Daryl gives him this evil look. "Do it!" Joe yells knocking Daryl in the back of the head.

"I ain't doin' that!" He yells.

"You'll either do it or die!" Joe bends down and puts the knife against his neck again. My heart is pounding. "I got a better idea, beat him to death boys!"

While all the guys are preoccupied beating him up I see that the crossbow was left unattended. I crawl over and grab it and slowly I get up.

"Hey!" I shout. They all look at me and a bolt flies through the air going right into Grayson's neck. Joe holds up a gun but Daryl trips him and head butts him. Ryland on the other hand turns and makes a run for it but then I hear a gun shot in the distance. Daryl finally gets free from the ties on his hands and walks over to me.

"We gotta go there are more of them." He says, taking off his leather vest and handing it to me. I put it on and zip my jeans and button them.

"I can't...I can't walk too well, save yourself Daryl."

He looks furious. "I told you I ain't loosen' no more people!" He grabs the crossbow and slings it over his shoulder.

We walk for a few minutes. Every time I walk I feel pain between my legs and I can't go on. Tears sting my eyes and I just collapse to the ground.

Daryl turns around and looks at me. "Go on!" I shout at him, my face now wet with tears.

"No!" He screams back.

"Just go Daryl, find your group and Beth."

He shakes his head and then walks over to me and holds out his hand.

"You need us...take it, please." I stare at his hand and then finally, I grab it. He pulls me up close to his side hugging me and helping me walk.

"We gotta find shelter with food, you need to eat." He says. "Get you cleaned up too, get you some clothes."

"Do you think will be able to find a bra in this world full of walkers?" I chuckle a little after saying it. He actually laughs a little too.

"There's one somewhere." He replies.


	4. Chapter 4: A House For The Night

We walk for hours and finally find a neighborhood. Finally, we come to a house which is a relief. Daryl grabs his knife and he opens the door slowly, crouching. A walker comes out and he quickly sticks the knife in its head. "Come on." He says. So I stumble up the stoop and he helps me the rest of the way up.

We get in the house and I shut the door behind me. Daryl goes in the kitchen looking for food while I go upstairs searching for different clothes. I find brown cow girl boots, black skinny jeans, a pretty flower patterned blouse, and a cute brown jacket. I rummage around some more and find a new bra and a pair of underwear. The door creaks behind me and I turn around.

"Hey, I found bottled water. Clean yourself up." Daryl says, putting the water on the bed. He leaves the room and I grab the water and take it in the bathroom. Once I wash up and get in my fresh clothes, I go downstairs. I sit on the couch with him and pick up my canned soup he set out and I start eating it.

"I'm sorry, they come outta nowhere and beat the shit outta me," He looks at me with sad blue eyes. "I dropped the crossbow...they heard you screamin' Grayson followed it."

"You act like it's all your fault...Daryl!" I start to get angry. "I'm the one who did it; I got myself in the mess." I then look down at the soup.

Daryl gets up and pulls something out of his back pocket. It gleams in the candle light. I notice it's my cross I'd ripped off.

"You should take it back," He places it in my hand. "I think it might a 'been important to you."

"Thank you...It was my mother's when she got sick she gave it to me." I grab the cross and mess with it.

Daryl sits down again and starts eating again. "Sorry, about that, I know how it feels to lose someone...like that,"

"Who was it? That you lost?" I ask.

"Brother...he wasn't real nice anyways, a threat actually, but when I found him he was already chewing on a dead body." He looks at me with a little bit of sorrow in his eyes. "We should get some sleep; it's been a long day." He sits there a minute holding the now empty can.

"I had a brother too but I don't feel like getting into that. What about your group...? Are they-"

"I don't know we were at a prison got split up cause a man named the Governor destroyed the place, he killed Beth's father she lost her sister." He cuts me off still looking down.

"I'm sorry, tell me about them maybe you'll feel better." I say and then he looks at me, his eyes sad. So I cross my legs sitting in front of him and he starts to tell me about his group and I just listen. When he finishes telling me about them he gets up and goes in the kitchen and I follow finishing off my can of soup. Then I throw the can away and grab Daryl's throwing it away as well.

I notice I'm still holding the cross and I shove it in my back pocket then I look at Daryl examining him. His blue eyes look like crystals in the moonlight pouring through the window. Finally I decide to break the silence focusing on the cut he has across his eyebrow.

"You have a cut on your head; let me see if I can find something to clean it up with." He then looks at me and I hurry to the bathroom and rummage through cabinets looking for something. Finally, I find some peroxide and cotton balls then I turn to go back in the kitchen and he's standing in the bathroom doorway.

"All it is, is a cut I don't need that shit." He says.

"Okay, just trying to help out." I set the bottle on the sink along with the cotton balls. Then I push past him, leaving the bathroom and heading back to the couch. He slams the bathroom door making me jump. Then I just lay there and he doesn't come out for the longest time. He must be upset about the conversation, poor guy. I slowly start to fall asleep and think about my family. My completely fucked up family that I miss sometime's.


	5. Chapter 5: Crossbow Practice

I wake up and there's still faint pain in between my legs. Daryl comes out of another room holding his crossbow in one hand and a bag of stuff in his other hand.

"Come on, we gotta go." He puts it across his shoulders and takes his knife out.

"I like it here," I say smiling.

"You'll like Terminus better, come on."

"You go...I'll be safe here," I stare at him. "Go...Daryl."

"Just be safe, Grace..." That's the last thing he says before walking through the door and shutting it.

I keep my eyes on the door for a minute. Then, I get up and find a bag and stuff it full of all the canned food I can find. I almost leave but then I go back to the kitchen and grab a whole bunch of kitchen knives. So I turn on my heels and leave the house going back out in to the corrupted world.

As I step outside, I see no sign of Daryl. I get out on the road and there are three walkers coming up the road. I hear something whiz past one of my ears and a bolt goes straight through one of their heads.

"Well, well couldn't stay at the house huh?" He says behind me.

I turn around and look at him. "I wanna be one of the last ones standin', I mean someone's gotta save this world one of these days."I look down at the knives in my hand and another one of his arrow bolts whiz past me.

"It might be smart if you moved so I won't hit you."

"You won't hit me unless you really wanted too."

He puts another bolt in the crossbow and looks up at me.

"You know you're one tough bitch Grace," He gets up and hands me the crossbow. "Go ahead try it."

I take the crossbow dropping the knives and turn around toward the walker. Slowly, the walker is coming toward me and adrenaline pulses through my veins. I pull the trigger on the crossbow and the bolt flies right into its neck.

"Shit! Daryl, kill it!" I turn around and shove the crossbow back into his hands.

He smiles a little and re-loads the crossbow and hands it to me again. "Try again," He says.

I turn back around and the walker is even closer. Daryl's arms wrap around mine and he helps me.

"Shoot." I listen to him and pull the trigger, the walker falls to the ground and a smile is on my face. I turn around and look up into his eyes; we're only inches away from each other. Damn his face is flawless even with dirt on it. My heart sinks and that's when I realize that I have some sort of feeling for this crossbow wielding redneck. I try to hand him the crossbow but he shakes his head. I back up a little so we aren't as close, how could I have feeling for a complete stranger.

"You keep it for now." He says.

"You helped me I don't know how to use it!" I yell.

"Well learn! I mean you figured out how to kill those walkin' corpses! Teach yourself to use a weapon at least, I ain't gonna be there to save your ass every time!" He yells back.

"Fine, but don't be pissed if I break your damn crossbow." I give him an evil look and then go and pull arrows out of the walker's heads. Behind me Daryl grabs all the knives and then he follows me.

The sun is beating down on us as we walk. Sweat drips down my face and I feel sick to my stomach, I'm so hungry.

"We gotta stop here Daryl." I hunch over and set the crossbow down on the road.

"How am I ever gonna find my group with you stopping everywhere we go," He yells from behind me. "Come on let's go we ain't got all day Grace!"

I grab the crossbow and turn around.

"If you keep yellin at me then you'll bring every walker in the state of Georgia to us!" I shove the crossbow into his chest and start walking again.

"Sorry, I just want to know if they're alive..." I stop walking and turn back to him.

"Let's keep going, will find them." I smile and he starts walking with me again. The humid air is thick as we walk, sweat starts to run down my back. I swat bugs out of my face as well. The afternoon finally settles in after awhile...now we just wait until night fall.


	6. Chapter 6: Oh Shit!

We've walked for hours without stopping and taking a food break. The night falls around us and I have this uneasy feeling someone's following us but who could it be?

"Down! Now!" I hear Daryl say from behind me so I crouch. He comes up next to me and hands me the knives. Then he points to a light in the middle of the road from a distance.

"You think someone's been there?" I ask.

"Ain't no tellin' let's keep movin' slow though." He sneaks a little more and I'm right with him. Then I hear rustling of trees and bushes around us.

"Not so fast, prick!" I look over and Joe is holding a gun to Daryl's head. Daryl holds the crossbow at his side and grunts. Then someone comes up and grabs me putting their hand tightly over my mouth. "Do what you want with her; I'll deal with this one!" With that the man holding me drags me in too the woods and I scream under his hand. Not too long after I hear a gunshot in the distance. They pin me against a tree and start to grab me. I remember the knives Daryl had given back to me and I stab the guy who is holding me in the eye and make a break for it, the rest start shooting at me. A bullet grazes my thigh but I keep running until I run into someone. My eyes are welled up with tears then I look up at who I ran into.

"let's get you outta here." The guy says in deep, raspy, southern accent.

"No! I can't my friend he's back there, please!" I plead.

"Listen we gotta go, these men they're dangerous. I know who they are, I killed one of their guys and they're probably huntin' me down" His bright blue eyes are sincere. He has a beard but it's trimmed down and his hair is slicked back and curly on the ends. Tears stream down my face. I'm terrified and I'm scared that Daryl maybe dead, after all he did to save my life. Now I need to save him, I need to go back.

He grabs me and pushes me along through the trees so we are out of view. Then he starts to ask me quite familiar questions.

"How many walkers have you killed?" He asks, still pushing me along.

"Is this a joke! I've already been asked this!" I shout.

"By who?" He grabs me and turns me to him with a firm hold on my arm.  
"A man named Daryl, he saved me. He's probably dead now." I look the way were all the action is.

"Daryl was with you?" I turn my head and look at him again. He knows Daryl this must be the leader of their group. This is Rick I'm asuming.

"Yes,"

"My apologies, I'm Rick. He was in our group but we all got separated." He holds out his hand.

"He told me, about you," I say, grabbing his hand. We start walking again. "You think we're far enough away?" I hug my body staring back from where I came.

"It doesn't matter, we gotta go back for Daryl. Michonne, Carl! Come on!" He shouts.

A slender black woman with a samurai sword comes out of the woods and a pale boy about 14 comes out with her. He has a silencer on his gun and a sheriff's hat on.

"What are we doing Rick? You said these men are dangerous?" Michonne asks.

"I know but they've got Daryl. Come on Carl stay close by." Rick says. Carl comes closer to Rick.

"Who's this dad?" He asks Rick.

"Grace, my name is Grace." I tell them.

"Well Grace, be ready for anything." Rick looks at me. We all start to head back toward the road and I am praying Daryl is okay.


	7. Chapter 7: Bloodshed

We're finally to the road but no one is there but in my mind I know they are. Then I look down at the road finding a few gun shells and blood droplets. Someone is hurt and it makes me want to call for Daryl but I know it's dangerous because the men are still around here, where is he though?

"I don't see anyone." Rick says, holding his gun out in front of him.

I hear a twig pop in the woods and our heads whip toward the noise I hold my knife out in front of me. My grip tightens on the knife and I gulp. I look at Rick and Michonne pulls her sword out.

"Reveal yourself!" Rick shouts.

Daryl comes stumbling out of the woods holding a walkers head. The head has flesh hanging out of its mouth chomping on it. He looks down at the ground and wipes his face with his arm. He's covered in mostly dirt but blood as well, I don't know if it's human blood or walker blood. All I know is he looks rough, wonder what the other guy looks like. My focus is now on the flesh hanging from the walkers mouth, I think I could take a guess.

"Daryl, are you bit?" Rick asks.

"I ain't bit, just beat up is all," He looks up with a gash in his face. Blood is also starting to run from his nose, he lifts his free hand up and touches the blood. "Son of a bitch!"

Joe steps out of the woods from behind him. "Grab the boy! Kill the cop, the archer, and the bitch with the sword! The pretty girl with the long blonde hair is ours to keep!" He orders all the men.

Someone grabs Carl and pins him to the ground, then I feel someone grab me. Daryl turns around and throws the walkers head at Joe. He batters it around and throws it in the ditch. Two guys lunge at Daryl starting to hit him and the other two have their guns on Rick and Michonne. I watch Daryl swing at one of the guys but the other one throws him against a car punching him, he doesn't go down without a fight either. The guy that has Carl pinned to the ground is trying to molest him and anger rages in Ricks eyes.

"Well I'm glad I found you two, you know our boy turned! Thanks to you!" Joe says holding a gun to Rick's head.

"Don't you touch my son! Let em' go!" He yells at Joe.

My eyes go back to Daryl and every time those mean hit him I swear it feels like someones hitting me instead. Then Joe fires the gun but Rick moves his head and Joe stumbles back a little. I can hear the ring in my ears for a minute. Rick finally comes to his senses and he quickly grabs Joe biting a chunk of flesh out of his neck. All the guys turn distracted as their leader hits the ground defeated. Then it just becomes a massacre, Michonne pulls a pistol out and shoots the two guys holding her.

Daryl knocks one of the guys to the ground and beats him to death and then stabs the other in the stomach. He crushes his head in with his foot and then looks at me. Rick spits the chunk of flesh out of his mouth and grabs the guy trying to hurt Carl.

"No, please don't kill me!" He begs.

Rick takes a knife and sticks it in the guy's stomach running it all the way up to his neck. Then, he just keeps stabbing him and Michonne comforts Carl. The other guys drop me and start running away but Daryl picks up a gun and shoots them both. Once all the men are defeated we all look at each other. None of us say a word considering we just killed a whole group of people in a matter of seconds.


	8. Chapter 8: A Kiss

Daryl and Rick sit up against a car in the middle of the road. I lean against a tree and watch them talk. Daryl's eyes meet mine a few times and all I feel is butterflies. I'm really, really starting to like him. He finally gets up and walks over to the tree I'm leaning against.

"Let's take a walk," He grabs my arm and we walk in to the woods. My heart is pounding fast and once we get deep enough he turns to me. He stares at me and then says something, "Did they do anything to you, when they pulled you away from me?" after asking he drops his head shyly.

"Only grabbed me but other than that, no," I reply. He then walks over to a tree and pulls some bolts out of it.

"Where? Where did they touch you!?" I can hear the rage in his voice. He walks over to a mound of leaves and pulls the crossbow out from under it. His eyes are now on me again.

"My chest, thighs, Daryl what does it matter!? They're dead!"

"It just matters Grace!" He snaps still looking at me with hatred, burning in his eyes. And in that moment I can tell he has some sort of feeling for me but the question is why? Why does he care and why do I care? We just met a few days ago and now my heart is going crazy for him. He walks back to where I am now he huffs.

"We gotta go," He says. I grab his arm as he starts to walk past me.

"No...I can do this on my own. You found your group you don't need me anymore Daryl." I say holding back tears. Deep down I know I can survive on my own but could I survive without him? All I see is the profile of his face right now.

"You ain't goin' in this fucked up world by yourself Grace!" He says. He then turns to me as sweat drips down his face and my heart is starting to pound really fast. I can't control my feeling for this redneck anymore so I decided to do what most girls would do. I stand up on my tippy toes and shyly kiss him. He sets the crossbow down slowly, and slides one of his hands to my cheek. His hand is rough against my face but his lips are soft and he kisses me gently. He realizes how much he's enjoying it and pulls away from me quickly. It's been forever since I kissed someone.

"Don't do that again." He says quite breathy and then picks up the crossbow walking away from me. I watch him walk away as I bring my hands to my hair and smile. Excitment boils in my stomach. Now I have to stay so, of course I follow him back to Rick, Michonne, and Carl. We all start to walk again, heading to Terminus. Daryl and I are walking behind Rick, Michonne, and Carl. I inch closer to him and I slowly slide my hand into his, it feels awkward but I like it. Surprisingly, he grabs my hand too and doesn't let it go.


	9. Chapter 9: So He Doesn't Like Me?

Finally, by the end of the day we find a warehouse to stay in for the night. I set the bag down full of canned food and we all grab something to eat making small conversation. Daryl can't seem to take his eyes off of me. Once we're all finished we talk a little more and then decide to rest. I lie on my side and stare at Daryl as he lays there staring up at the ceiling. I close my eyes and try to get some rest but the floor is cold and hard. Finally, I relax then wake up in the middle of the night and something is lying across my back. I grab it finding that it's Daryl's leather vest and I pull it on. So I slowly get up to try and find him grabbing my knife.

I slide down the stairs of the warehouse holding the knife out, I hear something rattle and Daryl comes into view. My stomach starts going wild with butterflies.

"I thought you were a walker!" He whispers.

"What are you doing?" I ask, now holding the knife at my side.

"I can't sleep, just walkin' and thinkin'."

I smile, "What's your last name Daryl?"

He looks up at me puzzled. "Dixon...what about yours?"

"Marshel, my full name is Grace Lynn Marshel." I walk down a few more steps.

"That's a pretty name." He drops his head.

"You act like a compliment is a bad thing, Daryl Dixon...? Why?" I walk closer to him.

"I just ain't really complimented a woman in a long time, especially one that kissed me." He looks back up.

"I see what's on your mind." I say with a smile.

"No girl has ever really liked me in quite sometime...Beth maybe." He drops his head again when he says her name. It saddens me to see him like this so the first thing I think of to do is hug him.

"I think you might have liked her a little too, Daryl." I pull away from him and he looks at me.

"It doesn't matter anyway; there ain't no time for all that romance shit anyway. It's the end of the world not a damn love story." He snaps and goes back upstairs. I go upstairs as well and lay back down. Anger burns inside of me after that. I turn on my side and lay there until I finally fall asleep thinking of the asshole I was with before all this shit. Now I'm falling for someone I just met a few days ago and he doesn't even want someone to care or to love.

In the morning I get up and grab my weapons and get the bag of food together. When I'm all packed up I take Daryl's vest off and I throw it at him. He turns around and flips me off. I just give him an evil look.

All of us leave the warehouse and follow the tracks again.

"We should get there, today." Rick says.

"Finally, will be somewhere safe." Daryl grunts from behind him. I walk behind Daryl and look at the worn wings on his vest. Angel my ass, I think. I wonder what type of woman he was with before, probably a crank whore. He's such an asshole but yet I have feelings for the son of a bitch. His muscles jut out as he raises the crossbow up a little and sweat makes the ends of his hair wet. Then I think of the way he kissed me so gentle and soft; how I wanted to be so rough. There's just something sexy about every little thing Daryl Dixon does and it makes me like him more than I already do.


	10. Chapter 10: I'd Rather Go Home

After awhile we all take a short break and set up small camp in the woods near the tracks. Daryl and I go hunt down some squirrel while the others build the fire to cook it.

"What in the hell was this morning about Grace Lynn!?" He raises his voice.

"About you being a heartless bastard Daryl Dixon!" I throw a knife at a squirrel going up a tree but of course I miss it and he shoots a bolt into it.

"You can't help who you are! I came from a family who was heartless, I ain't all peaches n' cream. You seem to think I'm your knight and shinin' armor or somethin' but I ain't!" He pulls the bolt out of the squirrel and shoves the dead animal into my hand. Yeah just what I fuckin' want a dead squirrel.

"It's true! You just wanna deny it all, saving me, watching that guy fuck me, them grabbin' me, you kissin' me!" I yell and my southern accent seems to slip quite a bit. Every word that comes out of my mouth seems to hurt. I cover my mouth and swallow hard, turning away. Tears start build up in my eyes and I suddenly wish he would of left me for dead at my house. I can't believe I just said all that.

Rage suddenly takes over the bitter feeling and I grab a rock and throw it at the tree he's standing next to. He just ignores me and keeps walking, which pisses me off even more. Finally, I just give up and keep walking with him not saying a word. We get as much squirrel as we can and he stands there for a minute and looks at me.

"What's wrong, you wanna' say somethin'?" I ask finally, crossing my arms.

"Why in the hell would you say all that shit! You got raped Grace it ain't funny!" He yells.

"Oh I'm sorry did it piss you off when I said that he fucked me and you had to watch!" I spat in his face and he pushes me against a tree getting in my face.

"If you're going to be such a bitch then why don't you just leave!" He screams.

"Oh, so you're finally going to let me go? Thank you!" I push the squirrel in his chest and head back toward our small camp.

Once I get back I throw my bag together and leave no one tries to stop me either. Once I get to the tracks I stop and look both ways. A walker stumbles out of the woods across from me. My mind seems to wander back to kissing Daryl. His lips and mine move in sync. I'd kill to see that man smile, one day. I watch the walker slowly inch closer to me. I hold the two kitchen knives in my hand; slowly I take a deep breath and take one in my other hand. I throw it as hard as I can and it flies into its head. I smile proud of myself then I start walking toward the corpse to get my knife but suddenly stop. Five walkers come stumbling out of the woods. Well shit, I'm screwed. I very slowly back away then look down at the knife and back up at the herd.

Apart of me just says let them eat me because it was God's choice and a part of me wants to survive the world, then another part of me wants a bad ass with a crossbow by my side. I turn the way we came from and grip the knife hard. I've made my decision I am going back home whether I have feelings for Daryl Dixon or not.


	11. Chapter 11: Alone

I walk and walk, hours on end until nightfall. Then I just give up and fall in the middle of the road. All I do is cry, that's the only thing I can think to do because I'm alone and scared.

After awhile of laying on the road I fall asleep for a minute and when I awake, a walker is trying to eat my foot off, I panic and start crawling away. I kick it in the head and quickly get up off the road stumbling back. The walker comes to its senses and starts crawling after me again, I search frantically for my knife but I can't find it anywhere. I quickly take my bag off of my shoulder and search for a weapon but all I can find is canned food. So I grab some soup and pin the crawling corpse down with my foot. Then I uncontrollably smash it's head in, blood spatters up all over my clothes and face. The place on my thigh where the bullet grazed me stings, I had completely forgot about the wound until my jeans irritated it. After killing the walker I slowly make my way up the road to find a gas station. My mind trails off to Daryl's lips and his huge rough hands. Then I think of his long reddish-brown hair and pretty blue eyes; the angel wings on his vest. I snap back to reality finally finding a gas station and make my way to it.

The front doors of the gas station swing back and forth making an eerie creaky noise. I quietly sneak in to the building searching for things I need. I grab lots of bottle water out of the abandoned refrigerators. Then I walk down the aisle looking for more things, I grab a box of tampons, hair ties, a brush, and then I stop and stare at a pregnancy test. Remembering Grayson forcing himself into me, so I grab two just in case. Along with grabbing those a box of condoms fall all over the floor and I can't help but laugh for some reason. They could come in handy right? So I grab a handful of those in shove them in my bag as well.

I walk through the gas station some more and I find a dead walker behind the cashier desk with an axe in his head. The wind blows through the doors and papers fly everywhere. That's when I realize that I'm really alone and the world has gone cold. Everything around me is dead and now I'm all on my own. I slowly walk around the desk and pull the axe out of the walkers head, I smile at the weapon and then I leave.

This time I don't walk back to my old house, I walk toward Terminus. I've decided that I want to find Daryl because I just can't stop thinking about him. It seems like it takes forever but I finally get to where I killed that walker and then a whole heard came out of the woods. Every single one of those walkers including the one I killed is slaughtered, but the knife is gone that was in its head. I turn my head finding a bolt in one of the corpses head and I quickly pull it out and start walking as fast as I can. All I wanna' do is find Daryl now and tell him how sorry I am.

I finally stop for the night and rest. So I decided to take one of the pregnancy tests I got, after peeing on the stick I rock back and forth waiting. Finally, I look at it and it reads negative. Once that's off my chest I eat a little and then try to sleep. My mind relaxes as I think of Terminus being the perfect place to settle.


	12. Chapter 12: My Everything

In the morning I start walking again and I make it. I'm finally at Terminus but when I look at the sanctuary it's up in flames and walkers are pouring into it. My heart pounds against my chest, wonder what in the hell happened? I grab the fence holding back tears, so I just snap the bolt in half feeling defeated. Then I throw it to the ground and push forward. Maybe there's something else other than Terminus.

I start walking deeper into the woods and I come across a cabin, there are dead walkers around it but nobody is there. Somebody was her though. That's when my attention turns to the ground finding all these foot prints so I follow them just to be nosey. I hold the axe behind my head and quietly follow the tracks that's when I see a whole group of people. All I want to do is scream for joy when I see Rick, Michonne, and Carl. I quickly skim them some more and I see Daryl hugging a woman who's much older than me. They all look so happy, I feel like I would ruin the moment so I just stay quiet and I hide behind a tree. Of course I accidently step on a twig which draws Daryl's attention toward the sound, he motion's for everyone to keep following the path and starts walking my way. I hesitate a second but I finally come to my senses and I run to the cabin quietly shutting the door. Shit, my whole body is shaking, hopefully he didn't see me running back this way. A walker comes out of a dark corner and I throw the axe in its head out of fear. After that I quietly crawl into the dark corner it came out of and cover my mouth. The door opens with a thud and Daryl is standing there. He brings the crossbow up to eye level.

"Whoever you are! You ain't slick so just come on out now!" He yells. My hand cups my mouth even harder. He steps into the cabin a little more and slowly starts walking around. Then he kicks the door shut which makes me jump. I'm so happy he's alive but I'm probably the last person he wants to see we really got off on bad terms. My heart is pounding in my chest. Should I reveal myself...? Oh what the hell, so I get up and slide out of the shadows.

"Don't...shoot." I hold up my hands while looking down at the old wooden floor. Then slowly look up at him.

"Figured you'd be back home by now Grace Lynn, what changed your mind? Safety, comfort!? Well Terminus ain't what we thought it was!" He slings the crossbow over his shoulder.

"Sort of figured that by the scene, you should get back to your group they need you." I smile.

"You ain't answered my damn question Grace Lynn!"

"I just wanted to see if Terminus was for real Daryl! Lay off!" I start to walk by him but he stops me. We're close again and I like it.

"Really," He holds the broken bolt to my face.

"It's just a bolt, I found it. You act like you're the only guy who chooses that as his primary weapon." I say.

"How many guy's you seen runnin' around with crossbows Grace Lynn?" He asks me. I look up at him and grab the bolt from his hand.

"Alright...so maybe you're my knight and shining armor Daryl Dixon, what are you going to do about it?"

He presses his forehead to mine. "Nothin' because they don't exist Grace Lynn..." Maybe not in his mind but I know they do in mine and he's becoming my everything. His hands slide up and down my arms and I don't want to forget this moment taking in his scent. I think I'm falling in love with Daryl Dixon but does he have the same feelings?

"Kiss me, Daryl..." I whisper.

He lifts my chin up and softly brushes his lips against mine. I don't want it to be over. I want more. I lightly touch his cheek and he puts his hand on mine.

"I'm sorry, Grace Lynn..." He drops his head.

"There's no need to apologize you have a group to get too." I say, pulling away from him and tearing the axe from the walkers head.

"You're comin'...?" He looks at me with sorrow in his eyes.

"You guys are happy Daryl, adding another person-"

He shakes his head. "No! Rick liked you, I told him everything Grace! He told me you would fit in perfectly! Don't you dare walk away again, Grace Lynn!" He yells.

Tears are starting to well up in my eyes. "I won't...I promise." I say.

My hand slides into his and we leave the cabin walking down the dusty path.


End file.
